


Robots in Love

by drollicpixie



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M, Nerdiness, Nerds in Love, Teenagers, background stormpilot, seniors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-05-29 02:20:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15062900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drollicpixie/pseuds/drollicpixie
Summary: I’m not usually a fan of exclamation points. Rey and Leia had other ideas. In which Ben and Rey are both high school seniors and Ben is new to town. Leia ships it. High school AU because, all the tropes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The mature rating is for chapters after this one. But I guess due to some language this chapter could be mature in nature. I’m planning to have some plot in this story. And sex too. But it’s nice for me to remember what plots are now and again. Un-beta’d and written during lunch on my iPhone. All mistakes are mine. Thanks for reading!

Ben fucking hated girls like her. Cute little ponytail, perky tits, tight ass. Shallow. Those girls. 

He sighed. Stared dejectedly out of his window. 

He didn’t actually hate them. He wished desperately that he did. 

Ben worshipped them. 

And they reviled him. 

Not that they knew what the word revile meant. 

But it just figured Han and Leia would buy a house next door to a girl like that. And soon they would be saying things like:

“Why don’t you introduce yourself?”

“Ask, whatever her name is, where all the kids go in this town!”

“Ask her over to hang out,” wink, “you can even take her up to your room!”

And Ben would want to die. Because he could never do any of those things. Ever. 

But neither Han nor Leia had ever been shy. Had ever had an anxiety attack over making new friends, attending a new school. Which is probably why they told him every new school, new house, was a new adventure. And why they didn’t understand how moving every year to eighteen months had made him withdrawn, sullen. Ben Solo was not cut out to be in a military family. 

But now, it was his senior year. It would be the last school he would ever be forced to attend. It would be the first school he left willingly and without reservation. Because next would be college. And no matter where his parents went afterward, Ben would no longer be required to go with them. 

He sighed. 

The girl was below, spread out on an old paisley sheet, bikini clad, radio blaring, nose in a magazine. He couldn’t see what it was, and while tempted to grab his binoculars, Ben realized that would be just too creepy.

So he guessed:

Rolling Stone. 

Cosmopolitan. 

Vanity Fair. 

But it was probably some teen rag that he knew nothing about. A document that informed girls how to hate guys like him. How to make them feel like worms. While also making them work their dicks until they wanted to cry and hide under the blankets until high school was over. 

Or maybe that was just him.

* * *

“Ben! You have a visitor!” His mother called up the stairs the following morning. He had been organizing his bookshelves. His volumes. Classic literature. Science fiction. Nonfiction and biographies. 

Leia sounded too pleased though and it put Ben on edge. 

Who would be visiting him? He didn’t even know anyone yet. Not that he was likely to in the future. 

Still, he slowly, with trepidation, trudged downstairs. 

“Oh, honey!” His mother clapped her hands when she heard his sullen tread, “Come and meet Rey! Our neighbor!”

But the face that looked back at him was nothing like he imagined. Rey should have been a burly man in coveralls. Not the hot teenage girl from next door. 

Ben felt his face flush as she stood there grinning with a plate covered in Saran Wrap. 

“Hi,” she turned to him, reaching a hand out under her burden. “Nice to meet you!” 

Fuck. She was just, pleasant. And perky. Like her whole personality. Not just her tits.

And probably putting on a show for his mother. Or her mother. Or the whole fucking neighborhood for that matter. 

“Um, hi,” he returned. Not reaching out. 

She looked surprised for a moment before covering it over with a smile. 

His mother rolled her eyes, clearly exasperated. “Don’t mind Ben. I swear he wasn’t raised by wolves. But sometimes I do wonder.” And then she waved the girl, Rey, in over the threshold. 

Ben’s eyes went wide. Wait. She was staying?

Leia was wending her way through unopened boxes into the kitchen, “Why don’t you sit at the table and tell us about yourself, Rey. I love meeting new people.” She looked at him, eyes narrowed in a warning, “And so does Ben! Come on, Ben. Sit down.” There was no arguing with her. His life would not be worth living if he tried to slink away.

* * *

Ben was in hell. 

Perky titted. Peach assed. Pink, pouty lipped Rey, was also a senior. And in all AP classes. And hoping to go to MIT. Or CalTech. 

The. Same. As. Ben. 

She was looking for a partner for the science fair. Would he be interested? She had a few ideas already but would be happy to hear what he thought. 

She was president of the robotics club. Did he want to join?

Of course he wanted to fucking join. 

But he could barely open his mouth. And his cock had been hard since she walked in. And her cookies, chocolate chip, homemade by her, just for them, we’re fucking crazy delicious. 

Neither Leia or Han could bake. 

Or cook. 

And Ben wished a hole would just open beneath him. So that he could vanish and pretend that Rey was still the shallow girl from the yard over. Why did she have to be smart? And friendly?

And why did his mother have to continue to kick him, not so slyly, under the table. Her eyes going back and forth between him and the girl as she smiled, nodding.

* * *

“Ben, why don’t you show Rey your room?” His head whipped around so fast he was surprised it didn’t topple off of his shoulders. 

“What?” He demanded. 

But Leia wasn’t looking at him. “Ben has the most wonderful models. He already has them hanging up. He and his father build them. And you mentioned robots, Rey! Ben has a fantastic one he built for competitions at his last school...”

“It was two schools ago,” he grumped, slouching and crossing his long arms over his chest. 

Rey was smiling at him though and his heart was pounding. It was possible he was dying. “What do you like to read?” She asked him excitedly. 

His mother scoffed, jerking her thumb at him. “This one never stops reading! We can’t get his nose out of a book. Not since he was four. He has a whole library up there.”

They were both still grinning at him expectantly. 

Finally his mother gave his shoulder a shove. “Go on, Ben! Show Rey your books. Maybe you have something she would like to borrow.”

Ben swallowed. He hated lending his books. Letting them out of his sight. 

“Okay,” he eventually stammered out. “Come on,” and walked out without waiting to see if the girl followed. 

She did. Happily bouncing behind him like a puppy. 

“I’ll just be down here,” Leia called. “Minding my own business!” Ben could hear the smirk in her voice. 

On the stairs Rey told him, “Your mom is great!”

He rolled his eyes. But she couldn’t see.

* * *

Rey had a small stack of books beside her on the floor, touching the spines as she navigated his collection, lovingly. 

“You have so many,” she had nearly whispered upon first appraisal. 

Ben shrugged. “I guess. I like to read.”

“Me too,” she grinned over at him where he sat perched on the very tip of the corner of his bed. Hands nervously in his lap. “But Maz, that’s the lady I live with next door,” she sighed and he wondered why she lived with some woman and not her parents, “she works so hard to make ends meet, I just hate asking her for things. You know,” she bit her lip and Ben shifted, uncomfortable, “stuff I don’t technically need. Like books.”

And because he was a socially inept dolt, he blurted, “Maz isn’t your mother?” And immediately turned red, like a tomato, right up to the tips of his ears. Ben felt the flush like a shameful fire under his too pale flesh. 

But Rey didn’t even flinch. Just looked him in the eye and said with a shrug, “I’m a foster kid. She’s my foster mother, I guess. But I don’t call her Mom or anything.”

Ben felt so flooded with shame that he couldn’t even speak. Not that he spoke a lot. But even if he had tried, words would not have been able to come out. Why did he have to open his mouth?

Nothing about Rey was as he had presumed. In fact, she should hate him. A normal person would. For being rude, difficult, ignoring her. He had barely glanced at her since she arrived at their door. He had judged her so completely from her spot sunbathing on the lawn the day before. And then at night he had furiously stroked his cock to the thought of her bare tits in his mouth as she rutted against him on the very same blanket. 

He was vile. Loathsome. 

And he was staring. 

And she was trying to hide a smile.

* * *

Before she left. With six of his books. Six! Ben stopped her at the door. “Um,” he ran one large hand through his dark hair, “how do you get to school?”

She cocked her head looking at him. 

Classes started in three days. 

“I walk,” she eventually told him.

“I,” Ben took a deep breath, swallowed, thought he caught a glimpse of his mother out of the corner of his eye, peering around the kitchen door. “I have a car,” he finally said with a bit more confidence than he felt. “I could give you a ride?”

“Really?” Rey breathed with something akin to giddy excitement. 

“Yeah. Just meet me here at 6:45 on Monday, okay?”

“Thank you! Thank you,” she grinned and jumped down all three steps. It should have been stupid. Normally Ben would have found it very stupid. Juvenile. But instead, he sighed, it was adorable. 

Just as he was about to close the door she turned back and he paused, already hanging on her every word. Her every move. 

“And thank you for the books! I promise to take good care of them,” and then she was jogging across the lawn, back to her own house. 

Fuck. He leaned against the door and breathed. 

And before he could flee, Leia was on him. “Ben! Wait until I tell your father! He will be so proud. You made a friend today. Your second day in town. I think it’s a personal best for you.”

Ben rolled his eyes, huffed, annoyed. 

“And she’s gorgeous,” his mother gushed. Ben felt himself flushing again. That’s all he needed to hear about from Han Solo. His gorgeous new friend. Who would never, ever, go out with someone like him. Not a million years. He would never hear the end of it.


	2. Just A Girl

“Oh my god,” Rey breathed to herself the moment she shut her front door behind her. 

He new neighbor was beautiful. 

A beautiful teenage boy had moved in right next door to her. His bedroom window faced her bedroom window. It was like something out of a movie. Rey couldn’t believe her luck. 

And he was clearly a genius. An actual one. He probably got a perfect score on his SAT. 

God, why hadn’t she asked about the SAT?

He was so shy. And quiet. And sweet. She had made him totally uncomfortable but he still let her see his room, touch his models, and borrow some books, which clearly pained him. And really, she had only wanted them because they were his. Because then he would be forced to let her come over again to return them. 

And god, she wanted to. Go back. And go into his room again with his mom being covert and smirking. 

Next time, next time they would do more than just look at homemade robots and share awkward glances. They would do stuff. 

Not that Rey knew very much about that kind of stuff particularly. Boys. And the things you did in their rooms that made most (normal) parents nervous. But she also sincerely doubted that Ben knew either. Not the way he had wrung his hands, avoiding all eye contact as he perched so precariously on his bed. Like if he sat back or got comfortable he would be sending her signals. Implying something untoward. It was so so cute. 

Rey wondered if he had thought she was cute. She had worn her floral sundress, the one Finn said made her look like the preverbal girl next door. But not everyone thought the girl next door was hot. Some people thought she was boring. Or a too smart, know-it-all, teacher’s pet goodie goodie. With weird friends. And weird hobbies. Who didn’t act enough like a girl. 

But that was beside the point. 

Ben didn’t seem like the type to judge based on anything like that anyway. She didn’t think he would ever call her ‘Nerd Girl’ or try to beat up her best friends for being an out gay couple in high school. He wouldn’t drop racial slurs at Rose because she was Vietnamese. Nothing like that. Rey could just tell. 

So she was committed to making him feel welcome. In any and all ways possible. To their town, their school, their little circle of friends. 

Her body. 

He was welcome to that too. 

She had been saving it for someone just like him, in fact. For so long. 

So long that some nights she couldn’t sleep for the fever, the itch, the longing, that resided under her skin. Everything about her ached to be touched, to be held, to be caressed. Her own fingers, hands, no longer satisfying. 

Jogging up to her room, Rey settled on her twin bed, the faded floral comforter pulled up neatly underneath her. From the very foot, if she leaned forward, she could both lie down and see out through the window. 

Ben’s blue drapes billowed with the late summer breeze and if she squinted she could just make out a dark shape moving beyond. 

She rolled over onto her back and let the warm air settle over her skin as she palmed the skirt of her dress up around her stomach and stroked down the soft flesh there, imagining him climbing through her window, grinning, his dark hair falling over his angular face. And she sighed happily letting her eyes drift closed.

* * *

While Rey knew that logically she would see Ben again in only two days, for the start of school, the offered morning ride, that did not stop her from glancing out every window that faced his house or the street at any opportunity. 

She had deduced by day two of her scouting mission that Ben was not the out of doors type. In fact, she had not caught him with a foot out of his house since the family had moved in. 

It was possible, she knew, that she had just happened to miss him. But with the amount of staring she had done she thought it was unlikely. 

Her foster mother, Maz, officially believed that she had lost her mind. And Rey was far too embarrassed to tell her the truth. 

She loved Maz. She was great. But they didn’t really have a girl talk kind of relationship. Which was perfectly fine. It was good even. But it meant that Rey had to continue to let her guardian think she was cuckoo. Or suffer making them both horribly uncomfortable. 

But finally, the day before school was set to begin, she spotted him. Hearing a car rumbling, a door slam, she was immediately drawn to the front bay window that overlooked the street and had a clear view of the Solo’s front lawn, path, and driveway. 

There was Leia, an armful of grocery bags and a myriad of other things. And Ben skulking outside to assist his mother with her burden. 

Rey didn’t have to think twice before she was throwing open her door and offering to help as well. 

“Hi, Mrs. Solo! Can I help?” She breathed. 

“Oh, Rey, dear! It’s Leia! And thank you! You’re a darling. Can you grab that box out of the back seat?”

It was a coffee maker. 

“Our’s broke in the move,” the older woman explained as they walked toward the open front door. “And you do not want to see me in the morning before I’ve had my coffee!” She huffed a laugh, “It’s been a rough couple of days for Ben and his father.”

Rey returned the grin as they moved over the threshold. Ben nearly colliding with her just beyond. 

“Rey,” he breathed, “what are you doing here?”

She smiled. “I saw your mother outside and wanted to help.”

“Oh.”

And then he was gone. Back through the door and out again to retrieve more bags. 

It took a couple more trips but the three of them got everything inside. 

Rey wasn’t quite sure what to do once everything was in. She turned expectant eyes on Ben who seemed to be avoiding looking at her at all costs, shuffling his foot, staring down at his hands. 

Leia, on the other hand thanked her profusely. “You are such a sweet girl. How are you? Are you excited to get back to school? Ben can’t wait,” she cast a glance at her son who rolled his eyes. “He hates new schools but prefers it to being home. He just loves to learn. But I’m sure you do too.” She grinned. “You two kids just have so much in common. I’m so glad we chose this house. Right, Benjamin? Aren’t we lucky to have such a lovely neighbor as Rey?”

She felt herself flush in response to the praise. 

The boy in question sighed and flipped some shaggy dark hair out of his eyes. “Yeah,” he replied glumly. 

Rey knew that he was shy in front of his mother. Even more so than when he was alone with her. So she understood not to take it too personally. Or at least, she tried. Instead, she fixed Ben with her brightest smile. “I’ve finished a couple of your books. I could run back for them if you like? Or you could come over and get them!”

She didn’t want to sound over eager but she was hoping he would chose the latter option. Maz was at work and would be there late. Rey was bored. And when she had offered to let him be her Science Fair partner, she had meant it. She wondered if he would be willing to look over the ideas she had planned out. Wondered if he had any insight or opinions. 

“I could show you some of our footage from the Battle Bots competition the Robotics Club won last year. Or we could check out some of the stuff I have planned for this year. I would love some input from someone who has been in a club elsewhere. What you guys did while you were there and all.”

“Or,” she shrugged, going for casual and feeling anything but, “we could watch a movie? I have a TV/VCR in my room that I salvaged from a neighbor’s garbage a couple of years ago and some great classic Sci-Fi tapes and stuff. 

“Um, I,” his cheeks were pink. His ears, where they poked out from his hair, were scarlet. “I don’t know. My mom might need some help...”

“I don’t,” Leia replied quickly, smirking. “But thank you. I’m so glad to see you’ve turned a new leaf on wanting to help your mother, Ben.”

He swallowed visibly. 

“You go run along to Rey’s house,” she winked. 

“Great!” The girl in question smiled, grabbing his arm. 

“Dinner is at 7. Just be home by then.” As they were half way out the door there was one last hail. “And kids? Have fun!” Rey could hear the smirk in her words.

* * *

Rey lay on her stomach on the bed. Ben was at the foot, his back against the box spring and mattress, spine ramrod straight, gnawing nervously at his lip. 

She wasn’t sure if he was intimidated by her specifically? Or maybe it was being alone in a girl’s bedroom? With no adult supervision. Or that he had chosen an eighties slasher movie, to her surprise, with far more nudity and poorly executed sex than anyone would have suspected given the visuals on the box or the title of the film. But either way, they couldn’t stop seeing tits. They were everywhere. 

“Aren’t the visual effects terrible?” Rey asked seeing one of the killers, a deformed man, in a truly terrible prop mask. 

Ben stammered, knuckles white as he gripped his knees through his skinny black jeans, “Yeah, uh, I guess.”

Rey nibbled her lip, leaned further forward, and put her mouth right by his ear, “Do you not like it?” Ben’s body jolted nearly a foot off of the ground. She bit back a giggle. “We could watch something else if you want. Or nothing. We don’t have to watch TV.”

She liked to think, in her head, that the situation was sexy. That she sounded sexy. That he understood that she wanted to be sexy with him. But Rey also knew that she knew nothing about actually being sexy. So she may have been failing epically. 

Ben turned, “No, it’s okay. I like it.” But he didn’t sound convincing. 

“Are you sure? Because you look kind of,” Rey thought about it, wanting to use the correct word, “tense?”

“Oh, uh,” he was tripping over his words so adorably. And he was turning fully toward her, his body angled sideways while his face was mere inches from her own. And if that wasn’t an invitation, Rey wasn’t sure what was. So, without a second thought, she pressed her cherry chapstick coated lips to his. And god, they were pillowy and soft, just like she had imagined. 

He didn’t move to kiss her back at first. But maybe he had never kissed anyone before? Maybe she had taken him utterly by surprise? Rey was not deterred. While she had only done this a handful of times she had never wanted it more than she did then, with him. 

Quite suddenly it was as if a switch flipped and his eyes went wide. But his lips moved. And Rey sighed, let her own lids drift down, guiding him with her mouth. 

Ben was so soft. So sweet. 

Until he wasn’t. 

The next moment he was on his knees. He was pushing her up, nudging her back, making room for himself on the bed. 

Rey, surprised but infinitely pleased, hummed, putting her arms around his neck as her tongue touched the seam of his lips. He groaned, opening to her. 

His tongue was clumsy, prodding. The kiss was too wet. And he was moving forward, surging. His large hands on the small of her back clutching her to him, their lower halves meeting, making Rey gasp, a mere second before she found herself suddenly pressed into her mattress, a trembling wall of teenage boy between her thighs. 

Rey swallowed, pulling back to look at Ben. His eyes were still open, the warm brown having been swallowed up entirely by black. 

“Ben,” she breathed, chest rising and falling, and then he was kissing her again. 

The second kiss had more finesse. Less tongue. Less spit. 

Her hips lifted of their own accord making both teens moan when her hot center met his hard one. 

She was mumbling into his mouth, saying things like, “Oh Ben, please!” But she didn’t know what she was asking for. She needed something. Needed it desperately. But she had no idea how to get it. And Rey hated not having the answers. 

A scream pierced the room, cutting through the heavy breathing, the sighs and gasps. 

Ben threw himself off of her, stumbling backwards off of the bed, nearly toppling over in his haste. 

Rey sat up panting. “It’s okay,” she hushed. “It was just the movie.”

The strap of her tank top had fallen down her shoulder. Her lips stung. And the place between her thighs throbbed, pulsed like it had its own heartbeat. 

The boy was staring at her dumbfounded, taking great swallows of air, running his hands through his hair, tugging as he went. He looked pained. 

“I’m sorry,” he told her. “Fuck. I’m so sorry.”

“Wait,” she tugged the strap up. “For what? What’s wrong?”

“I need to go.” His eyes were wild. “Right now,” and he was already making a beeline for the door. “I,” he paused, still struggling the breathe it seemed, “I should never have done that. I’m so sorry, Rey. Good bye,” and with a last fleeting glance at her he fled out the door, down the hall and the steps, and out the front door, slamming it behind him. Rey watched him sprint across the lawn and into his own house. 

She even watched him storm into his room a moment later, her eyes misted with tears, her heart rended. 

Rey didn’t know what she could possibly have done wrong? What could she have done differently? To make Ben want her?

He must have been utterly disgusted by her. Horrified by her behavior. 

She felt so fucking ashamed. She could barely manage to suck air into her lungs. 

What was wrong with her? Why did _no one_ want her?

* * *

The following morning, the first day of school, Rey was running late. She hadn’t slept much the night before. Her eyes felt puffy. 

She reminded herself that Ben Solo was just a boy. Nothing more. Nothing less. And he held no power over her. He had no sway upon her heart. She hardly knew him. But that didn’t change the fact that she felt ill over the situation. That she had thought he was different. That she had tried something with him and that she had been rejected. 

For some misguided reason, she had thought that they had a connection. Something beyond science. Beyond her understanding. But he hadn’t felt it. 

It was a twenty minute walk to Mos Eisly High School from Maz’s house. And as it was, she was going to be late. 

Rey certainly did not expect a ride from Ben anymore. Nor did she believe she wanted one. It would be out of pity. Something his mother made him do. And she couldn’t stand the thought. Would rather be late and face the consequences. 

So with fifteen minutes to spare she jogged out the door, swinging her well used orange backpack over her shoulder. She had skipped breakfast. Doubted she could stomach it anyway. And had dressed in a hot minute. 

There was no time for first day cute. And it wasn’t like she had been able to afford a new back to school wardrobe. Nothing she wore was anything different that her clothes from the previous school year. White t-shirt, cut-off jean shorts, black Chuck Taylors. Her hair fell at her shoulders, the top pulled back into a small bun. And she’d taken a minute to apply black eye liner, a coat of mascara, and her chapstick. But that would have to do. She was sure to get an earful from Rose on the topic at lunch. 

It was misty and gray that morning and Rey had no umbrella and no time to go back for one. She sighed. It figured. 

As she walked the sidewalk as briskly as possible without breaking into an all out run a car pulled up beside her. A black Honda Civic. Nothing flashy. Newish but not brand new. The driver’s window rolled down. 

“Rey!” It was Ben. She paused, eyes going wide as she glanced over at him. Black hair, black t-shirt, luminous pale skin. Then she abruptly turned her gaze forward again and started walking. 

Fuck him. 

“Rey, I told you I would drive you. Why didn’t you wait?”

Was he fucking serious? Did he have amnesia? 

Was he fucking with her? Was it all a joke to him?

“Rey,” his voice wheedled, turning near plaintive. “Please get in the car. I’m sorry, okay? I suck. I was an ass. Now,” he sighed, “please?”

“Why?” She didn’t know what she meant. Her why could have been about so many things. Why did he run away? Why did he kiss her back? Why didn’t he like her? Why did he care if she got in the car?

And the last was the question Ben chose to answer. 

“Because I really wanted to drive you to school. That’s why I asked you if I could.”

“I,” She bit her lip, sighed, deflating some. “Okay.”

She wasn’t over it. But, just the same, she walked around the front of the car and climbed in. 

“Thanks,” they breathed at the same time. And Rey grinned. 

Ben did too.

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter is mostly complete. It’s Rey’s POV. I plan for this fic to alternate.


End file.
